Life Around Lily
by Ihrah
Summary: Beginning in their fifth year at Hogwarts, we follow the activities of James, Lily, Severus, and the Marauders. What pranks will be pulled on Severus? Who will win the heart of Lily? Read to find out!
1. Summer Daydreams

"Hey Sev

"Hey Sev?"

Severus blinked, and looked over at Lily. He had just been sitting on the swing set in the park, staring at the sky. It had been a long summer away from Hogwarts. Away from the comfort and the feeling of accomplishment of brewing potions. Yes, it had been a long summer indeed, and the only thing that kept Severus sane was the same person who had kept him sane throughout the other four summers away from Hogwarts: Lily Evans.

She was standing near the swing set, staring at him with half amusement, and half confusion. Her eyes were particularly green that day, Severus noticed, and her hair was shining in the light.

"Sev!"

Severus blinked again. She had been talking to him, he realized, he just hadn't heard her. It was annoying enough that he fantasized about her every day, and now he was staring into her eyes, not even listening to what she was saying? What had become of this world?

She waved her hand in front of his face her eyes holding laughter, but her mouth set in a hard scowl. And her hands, as if they were molded out of clay, her fingernails shining, even though they were not painted or polished.

Her scowl deepened, and she walked around to the back of the swing. He was staring at the sky again, his lips set in a faint smile, still thinking of Lily, even though she was there with him. Then suddenly there was a warm hand on his back. He frowned slightly, and he began to turn around to see who was touching him, and just as suddenly he was pushed off of the swing onto the ground.

"Wake up, Sev! You must be dead, or something."

Pushing himself up on his hands, he spit out some of the sand that had gotten into his mouth. And her voice! Like musical bells! Or like... like angels singing! He was in love with Lily, but 'love' felt like such a little word. Infatuated was more like it. After he pushed himself up on his knees, he turned to look at Lily.

"You know, you're really sneaky." Severus accused.

Lily almost laughed. "Sneaky? I was practically screaming in your face! You call that sneaky?"

Severus blushed. "Yes." He murmured, looking down. That was one thing he didn't want Lily to see: Him daydreaming. How horrible.

Lily laughed again (and her laugh was like tinkling bells.) "I seem to have come here for something important, but trying to wake you from the dead has taken a toll on my memory." She sighed playfully. "I guess I'll just have to leave, then."

Severus scrambled to his feet, when Lily turned to go. He stumbled in his attempt to get to his feet, only to fall back on his knees again. Standing a bit more slow this time, he half shouted, "No!" Lily turned, and grinned.

"Oh no! What is the big, bad Severus going to do about it?" Severus started to blush again, and looked up at Lily.

"If you leave I'll... Uhm... I-I have a wand and I'm not afraid to use it!" He said the last as he pulled his wand out of his pocket, pointing it at Lily. She giggled and held her hands up as if surrendering.

"Oh no. A wand. I'm so scared." Lily said in a mono tone, managing to keep a straight face. Her hands began to lower behind her back, and she broke out in a sudden smile. "But guess what? I have a wand too." She pulled her wand out from behind her back and pointed it at Severus. "So now who's big and bad?"

"En garde!" Severus said, taking a step toward Lily. She answered his challenge by taking a step towards Severus, and putting her wand against his.

"May the best man win." She said, an ominous smirk on her face. "And let me assure you, she will."

They sparred for about ten minutes, each taking a step up the nearby hill each time their wands struck each other. When they finally got to the top of the hill, Lily poked her wand to Severus's chest, and said in a sing-song voice, "I won! Told you the best man would win." She smirked, and shoved Severus down on his butt. She laughed at his startled expression, and was still laughing when Severus wrapped his arm around her leg, and pulled so that she tripped and fell. They laughed with each other for a few moments, then grew quiet and watched the sky as the sun began to set.

"Hey Sev?" Lily asked, her eyes still on the sky.

"Hmm?"

"What do you think schools going to be like tomorrow? 'Cause, ya' know, it is the last day of summer."

Severus was quiet for a moment, thinking. What did he think being a fifth year would be like? Well a lot like last year, but he didn't want to tell Lily that. So instead he just shrugged, and watched the sun set. Lily stared at him for a moment more, staying quiet, then sighed and stared up at the sky.

"Lily!"

The distant cry was distant but distinct. Petunia, Lily's older sister, was calling her. Letting out an exasperating sigh, Lily closed her eyes, and tried to ignore her sisters beckon. With, unfortunately, no prevail.

"Lily Rose Evans!" Another sigh. There was no avoiding it.

"I'm coming, I'm coming!" She called back. Then turning to Severus, She said apologetically, "Sorry, I guess dinner's ready, or something." She smiled slightly. "See you tomorrow at Kings Cross?" Sev nodded hesitantly, wondering if he should save Lily from the wrath of her sister. Finally Lily stood up and started down the hill.

"Wait!" Severus shouted. Lily stopped and turned. Severus blushed and looked down, forgetting what he was going to tell Lily. "G... Good Luck..." Lily smiled despite herself, and then turned and walked down. Severus gazed after her, wondering himself if there was anything different that was going to happen this year.

--

James sat in his room, staring at the two-way mirror that he had come across a few years back. How could he be so stupid? Though it was nearly the end of summer, James was still brooding about not getting Lily Evans last year. What had gone wrong? What didn't he do right? You know what the real problem was? That Severus kid. Always coming between him and Lily as if he owned her! Pfft, what was up with that? Shouldn't everyone have a chance with Lily Evans? By everyone, he meant just him. Because he _deserved_ to be with her.

Something large and heavy hit his head suddenly. James spun around cursing. "What'd you do that for?" He shouted. "I was listening!"

Sirius rolled his eyes and walked across the room to pick up the book that he had thrown at James. "Sure you were. So that was why you weren't answering me! Because you _were_ listening!" He said sarcastically as he picked up _The Monster Book of Monsters_. The book snarled at him, and attempted to snap at him through it's bindings. "Bloody book." Sirius murmured.

James shook his head and ran his hand through his hair. "Fine." He sighed. "What were you saying?" Sirius grinned and replied,

"Why should I tell you now? Since you were listening, and obviously heard what I said, you obviously don't care what I was talking about" James slapped Sirius upside the head. "Just repeat to me what you were said." Sirius's grin grew wider, and he sidestepped away from James.

"All I was saying was that this year you should go after some different girls for once. I mean, you could really have some of those cute girls who lounge around the dorm, just waiting to be picked up."

"That's you who does that..."

Sirius held up his hands in surrender. "All I'm saying is forget about Lily Evans for once, and focus on other cute girls who will practically follow you around like puppies."

James made a face. "I don't want a girl who will follow me around. Me? I like a challenge."

"Is that what Lily is to you? A challenge?" The new voice came from James's doorway. Both of the boys looked up to see Remus Lupin standing in the doorway, a bag slung over his shoulder. One of his eyebrows were raised as if in a question. Sirius grinned and James winced. "You know, Lily would kill you if she heard you say that – no, she would cast a curse on you."

"At least she pay attention to the poor bloke." Sirius grinned, then ducked out of the way of a punch coming his way.

James glared at Sirius for a moment, then looked back at Remus. "How do you do it, mate? How did you get her to like you as a friend? I can't even get her to say two nice words to me." Remus shook his head, the slightest of smiles played on his lips. He opened his mouth to reply, when someone pushed him from behind further into the room.

"C'mon boys! Time to go to bed! You three have school tomorrow," James's mother poked her head in the doorway, smiling. "Its late enough as it is, so you better get to sleep so that you won't have to sleep on the train."

A chorus of two voices muttered, "Yes, Mrs. Potter." And a single voice uttered "Yes mum." She smiled.

After she had left the room, Lupin turned to Sirius and James, and said "I'll answer in the morning." He unrolled a sleeping bag that was stashed in the closet, and climbed in.

Sirius went on the top bunk, while James took the bottom bunk. Sirius leaned over the edge and whispered to James, "So what do we do with Snivellus tomorrow?"


	2. The Lake

As the train whistle blew, Lily looked up to watch the train arrive

As the train whistle blew, Lily looked up to watch the train arrive. Platform 9 ¾ was always crowded, but at this time, there were but a few people. Usually, Lily wasn't the first one there, but her sister Petunia had a birthday party to go to, and since they were already going out, they decided to drop Lily off early. She sighed and sat down on a nearby bench. They wouldn't let anyone on the train yet, first they had to go through all of the compartments, checking for stowaways – or, even worse, Death Eaters. Plus engine checks, cleaning debris from the wheels, etc...

She crossed her arms over her stomach and closed her eyes. It really wouldn't take all that long, with the use of magic, of course. But... It was still a bit boring. Nothing to do, no one to talk to. Absolutely, nothing.

About half an hour passed, and there was a crowd gathering, and the train whistle blew again, signaling that people could start getting on the train. Lily stood and uncrossed her arms. Before she could even move towards her luggage, three different pairs of hands reached down and grabbed her stuff for her. She looked up and frowned. James and Sirius were grinning, and Remus was shaking his head apologetically, as if they had ganged up on him to make him help them with all this nonsense.

"Hey, Evans, how was your summer?" This came from James, who was still grinning, holding her stuff. Her eyes flicked from James to Sirius and finally landed on Remus. She smiled at Remus, and stepped over to give him a friendly hug.

"Remus! How have you been? Why did you pick up my bags? I can get them myself." And with saying that, she reached down and grabbed her luggage out of Remus's hands.

He frowned and let go of her bags, without resistance, which earned him a glare from James. Both Remus and Lily ignored it. "So," Remus began, "You're a prefect this year, right?"

Lily nodded. "Yeah, so are you, am I right?"

"I guess. So we'll be working together often." He shrugged. "At least we know each other. We won't be as distant as the Slytherin's prefects are."

"Yeah, but all Slytherins are all that unsocial." She sighed.

Glancing over at James for a second, she noticed him narrowing his eyes at something behind her. She turned her head, and seeing who was behind her, grinned. Severus Snape, one of her best friends, was standing right behind her, one of his eyebrows raised.

"What about Slytherins now?" Severus had frown on his face, but his voice held laughter.

Lily turned all the way around, and mock frowned. "Oh, come on, Sev! Both you and I know you're unsocial. There's no use hiding it."

Severus shook his head and smiled at her, a boyish smile. "Yeah, but so what? There are plenty of unsocial Gryffindors."

Lily scoffed. "Like who?" Severus opened his mouth then closed it, shaking his head. "Hah! You can't think of a one can you?"

James's gaze bore into Lily's back, trying to drill it's way through to Severus. Well, yeah. Good luck. They were both ignoring him. Out of the corner of his eye, James spotted some Slytrherins coming their way, headed towards Severus. James frowned, and shoved Lily's suitcase into Remus's arms, then stalked over to Lily. Gripping her by the upper arm, he began dragging her away from Severus.

"Come on now, let's let the big bad snake play with its friends." James said.

Lily was bristling. How rude of him! Just dragging her away like that. Digging her heels into the ground, she yanked away from James. They were near the train now. "What is your problem, you ugly git?!" Remus and Sirius, who were following them, promptly stopped at her angry voice. Yeah, Lily was scary when she was angry.

"Well, I thought it was a good time to get you away from that Snivellus. Reinforcements were on their way." She narrowed her eyes at him, and he grinned. "Hey, do you wanna go out with me?"

The sudden change of subject threw the three of them off guard. Remus was the first one to recover, and he shook his head. "James..." He sighed. Lily and Sirius were the next ones to recover.

"Why would I go out with an arrogant wizard who knows nothing of sensitivity?" She shook her head.

James frowned slightly, giving her "the puppy dog face." "Oh, come on Evans, you know you like me."

"Oh yes, I am completely and utterly in love with you. Forgive me for the error of my ways." And with that, she stormed off, one suitcase in her hand, towards the train and got on.

James frowned after her. "Was she being sarcastic there?" He muttered.

Remus and Sirius said, in complete unison, "Not at all."

Before James could say anything back, Remus asked, "James, do you have a death wish?" James looked – glared – at him and shook his head.

Sirius sighed, and asked, "How many times has she said no to you now?" James murmured something incoherent. "What was that?" Sirius asked.

James glared at him and answered, "Thirty-eight."

When they entered, they were flooded by a wave of conversation. They weaved their way through the tables, and found an open spot on the Gryffindor table's benches. "So," James said, "Back to the issue at hand." Sirius looked at him in confusion.

"And which issue may that be? There's so many of them!" James just looked at him, and Sirius grinned. "Oh, that issue."

James sighed. "Any ideas on what to do to him?"

Sirius jumped up and said, loudly, "We could dump him in the lake!" The entire great hall got quiet. Everyone turned to look at them. James felt like punching him, but resorted to throwing a cupcake in his face instead, frosting side up.

"You idiot."

Severus was sinking into his chair, obviously knowing who they were talking about. Lily wasn't even there to scold the two Marauders. Damn.

The conversation had gone on in the Great Hall, everyone knowing that the Marauders always did this kind of thing, and they decided to ignore it. No one wanted attention junkies.

"How are we gonna get him down there, though?" Sirius asked in a quieter tone while he wiped frosting off of his face.

"Well, we could send him a letter from Evans, but of course he would realize the difference in handwriting. We could have Evans walk down to the lake, and he would follow her..." Sirius kept quiet. It wasn't a good idea to interrupt James' ramblings. He would get... angry. "I got it!" He even snapped his fingers! "We could back him into a corner and petrify him!" Sirius nodded. Hah, he would never see it coming.

James stood up, and headed out to the door with Sirius trailing behind him. If they were lucky Severus would walk out alone, to seek solitude in the Slytherin common room. If only so he wouldn't be dumped the lake.

And just like the good little Slytherin he was, he came out alone and headed toward the Slytherin common room. Hearing a sound behind him, he began to turn around while at the same time pulling out his wand. But, alas, he wasn't fast enough.

"_Pertrificus Totalus_!"

He had the split second to register the voice as Sirius's, when all his joints locked up, and he couldn't move his muscles. Well... crap. No there was no way of getting out of the idiotic prank. He then felt some kind of cloth drape over him. They started dragging him in one direction, and before he knew it the were out near the forest by the Black Lake.

"_Levicorpus_!"

Severus levitated in the air, while still petrified, and, at the same time over the lake, He was dropped and unpetrified. There was a big splash as he went under the water. He surfaced, and took a deep breath, eyeing the shore. James and Sirius were laughing at him and his soaked self. They stopped laughing and looked over their shoulders, gave each other one look, and split, each running in a different direction. Severus sighed, and debated whether he should shout something obscene after them, but before he made up his mind, something wrapped around his ankle, and dragged him towards the shore. His head went under for a few seconds, and he couldn't breath. The thing around his ankle loosened its grip on him, and Severus surfaced coughing and sputtering. He looked up and he was sitting in shallow water.

He heard a sigh from the side of him, and looked over.

"Having a nice swim, Mr. Snape?"

It was the potion's master, and the Slytherin's Head of House, Professor Slughorn.

Back in the Gryffindor common room, Sirius, Remus, and James were sitting next to the fire. Sirius and James were laughing at their little prank on Severus. Remus was shaking his head, and mentally calling the two idiots.

"Sure." Sirius said, "Today has been pretty weird, but I do know one good thing that came out of the day." They all looked at him. Sirius grinned "I got a girl."


	3. Dominoes

Marley Mckinnon walked swiftly up the stairs, her cape billowing behind her, to the girls' common room

Marley Mckinnon walked swiftly up the stairs, her cape billowing behind her, to the girls' common room. She rounded the corner, and smiled brightly at her best friend who was sitting on the couch reading a book. She plopped herself down next to her friend, her blue eyes sparkling.

Alice Stoball looked up from the text book she was studying and looked a question at Marley, sensing that good gossip was on its way. Green eyes rose from the book they were reading, and blinked.

"Guess what?" Marley practically sang. "I got a boyfriend!"

Alice suddenly appeared next to the couch, beaming at Marley. "Oh, do tell. Do tell!"

Marley looked over at her best friend and smiled. "You'll never guess who it was! He just asked me out today! It was-"

"Speaking of today, you'll never guess what_ he_ did!" She groaned. Marley scowled, and shook her head. "What?" Her friend asked, looking over at her. "I'm sorry I interrupted, but seriously! He is such a nuisance!" Marley's scowl turned apologetic. She knew. They all knew how annoying James was. He did everything in his power to annoy Lily, or even to get her to go out with him.

Speaking of Lily, she sighed, and looked at both of her friends. "He is so annoying! I was talking to Sev, right?" Her two friends cringed. They didn't approve of her hanging out with Severus Snape. He was bad news ion their opinion. Not to mention he was in Slytherin, the enemy of Gryffindors and basically all of the other houses.

"Right." Lily continued, "Well, James is behind me, and he must have been out of his mind, but he_ dragged_ me away!" Alice gasped, but Marley smiled.

"Ooooh, he must have been jealous!" she exclaimed.

Lily snorted. "I'll just bet he was. But it still doesn't give him the right to drag me away like that!"

Marley sighed. "Lily, if you only gave him a chance he would-"

"He would, what? Sweep me off my feet to a place of romance? Or maybe just be nice in a while?" she shook her head. "I don't think so. He's too mean to everyone else that is 'below' him. It's like he is royalty or something." She sighed. "Now, what were you going to tell us? Something about a boyfriend?" She turned her green eyes on Marley.

Marley smiled. "Okay, Sirius Black asked me out! Yesterday!" Alice squealed so loudly that a few heads turned their way.

"No. way." She said. "Lucky! I would love to have him as my boyfriend."

Lily shook her head. "All of those 'Marauders' are trouble."

"But you hang out with one of them." Both Alice and Marley pointed out.

"Remus is nice. Not like Sirius and James and Peter." They all shuddered at the last name. While the other three were cute and somewhat bearable, Peter was just downright ugly and rude.

Alice and Marley shook their heads. "Whatever." Marley said.

-----

"Back in my day, if we were caught swimming in the lake, there would be severe punishments."

Severus was sitting down in Slughorn's office, with a towel over his head. Yeah, like he really meant to be in the lake. He sighed, and put his hands up to the towel, and began drying his hair off.

"Like being hung up in the dungeon by your thumbs, and sitting there for two days with no food or water."

Slughorn looked over at Severus and smiled. "Would you like some help with that?"

Severus looked up from under his towel and shook his head. "No thanks. I'm good."

"Nonsense, M'boy!_ Insendio_!" Slughorn said the spell while pointing his wand at Severus.

Instantly a small flame appeared on Severus's robes. At the exact same time Lily Evans walked into the room. She froze when she saw Severus's robes on fire, and shook her head. "_Aguamenti_!" water appeared in the air, and dropped on Severus's robes, putting out the fire.

"Sev, why are you wet?" she asked, in an exasperated voice.

He narrowed his eyes at her and flipped the wet hair out of his face. "Why do you think? You just dumped water on me!"

"Well, you were on fire!"

"But!-"

Lily turned to Slughorn and cut Severus off. "So, Professor Slughorn, what did you want again?"

Slughorn, thrown off by the sudden change of subject, was silent for a moment. Then, he answered, "Well, er, I just wanted to have a talk with my two best students."

It was silent while Lily and Severus just stared at the professor. "That's it?" Severus asked, shaking his head. Lily laughed quietly as their Professor merely shrugged.

The door behind the opened as Remus strode in. He first looked at Lily, then at the professor. "Excuse me professor, but I need Lily for her," Then Remus' eye strayed to Severus. "Prefect duties…" He raised an eyebrow. "Do I want to know why you're wet."

Severus scowled at the prefect. "It depends. Do you want to know what dastardly deeds your friends do?"

Remus sighed. "No, I guess I don't."

"I bet I can guess!" Lily tucked a stray strand of hair behind her ear. "Since it has something to do with that idiot James, I'm sure, and it involves water, he dumped you in that lake, didn't he?"

Glaring slightly at Lily, Severus nodded. "Your deduction skills amaze me."

Grinning, she replied, "Thank you." The Lily looked back over to Remus and here smile sobered. "How can you stand those two?" She asked.

Remus shrugged and smiled. "They have some charms. Not always visible, but they're there." At their confused looks, Remus sighed and turned around. "Never mind. But Lily, we really have to get to those duties. Or McGonagall will kill us." Lily nodded and followed Remus as he walked from the room. While Severus was left with Professor Slughorn.

Later that night, Lily returned to the Griffindor common room by herself. Remus was still doing something somewhere in the castle. The common room was almost empty, only a few first years studying. Lily took a book out of her bag, _Fantastic Beasts & Where to Find Them_, And sat down on one of the couches, curling her legs under her. She opened the book up to a random page. "Huh," She murmured to herself. " Kneazles can breed with cats…" After that, she was silent, and so was the rest of the common room, besides the rustle of paper as the students turned the pages in their books.

But, of course, all silent moments have to be interrupted by noise as two laughing boys entered the room, carrying something large between them. Lily rolled her eyes and closed her book. Leaning over the arm of the couch, she glared at the two boys. "You just live to disturb the studying of others, don't you?"

One of the boys dropped his end of the thing, and a muffled scream came from whatever it was. The other boy followed suit and dropped his end as well. The first boy pushed hair back from his forehead and grinned at Lily. "Oh, come on Evans, would you rather us leave poor Peter with a pig nose and locked legs?"

Several "yes"es were muttered through the room, but James didn't pay attention to them. Lily sighed. Just as she was about to respond, the door happened to open. Remus sighed and stared at James and Sirius. "Now what?" He began to walk forward. "You two really need to learn some self discipline." Sirius started flailing his arms, trying to get Remus to stop. Too late. Remus tripped over Peter, and as he fell he grabbed Sirius' Sleeve and pulled him down with him. Lily stood up to see if they were okay. There was a loud thud as the fell on top of Peter.

James grinned at Lily, because they were the only two left standing. "This must be fate!" He said, gleefully. "Telling us to be together!"

Lily glared, then sat cross-legged on the floor.. "There, now it's telling you to be alone." She said. "Forever." James opened his mouth to reply, but couldn't think of a comeback.

A hand grabbed James' pant leg, and yanked, causing James to fall forward. Which ended him on top of Lily. She felt the heat creep up to her face. Though if it were from anger, or embarrassment, she couldn't know. "Get. Off. **Now.**"

James, too scared not to obey, quickly scrambled off of Lily. He then glared back at Sirius. "You better start running." Sirius grinned, then stood up in one fluid motion, then ran up the stairs. James followed him quickly. Remus stood, and offered a hand to Lily. Lily grabbed the offered hand, and Remus pulled her up.

Sighing, Lily looked after the two. "Again, how do you hang out with such imbeciles?" Remus just shrugged, then turned and walked up the stairs to the boy's corridor. A silent groan brought Lily's attention to the heap on the floor. "Might as well get him out of the way before-" Marley walked quickly into the room and tripped over poor Peter. "That happens." Lily sighed.

She leaned over and pulled her friend up. Marley looked down at Peter and made a grossed out face. "Eeeeew." She whispered. "I touched it." Lily laughed quietly, then pulled her wand out and muttered the counter-curses. Peter rolled over and whimpered slightly. "Am I invisible or something?" Lily shook her head.

Marley sighed. "Well, I'm going to bed now." She turned and began to walk towards the stair case leading to the girl's dormitory, when some invisible force hit her, and she flew backwards with some unknown weight on top of her. Then, as if a veil was revealing him, Sirius appeared. They slammed into one of the couches and Marley winced. Sirius grinned down at her, then rolled off. "Sorry, doll can't do this now. Have to run away now." He jumped up, and once again disappeared under the invisibility cloak.

Just as the cloak covered him, James came down the stairs, a furious look marring his features. "Give it back, Sirius!" He looked around, frantically, then his eyes settled on Marley, who was now being helped up by Lily. "Where is he?" He asked. Marley made a face.

"How should I know? He just… disappeared." She said with a grin. James's eyes, narrowed, then he ran up the stairs, shouting, "Remus! Get the map! We're going hunting! For a loose dog!"


End file.
